Naming things is hard. You wouldn't think it, considering the fact that the very existence of language points to a lot of people picking words to represent things over the course of human history. That said, when you really think about the weight of deciding what something will be called for the duration of its existence, it can be a heavy choice. That in mind, recent reveals have given some incite into the naming of the Xbox.

According to Seamus Blackley, co-creator of the original Xbox, the naming process was something of a battle. While the launch team grew attached to the "xbox" moniker, which grew organically from its development, Microsoft felt the name wasn't "legally sound" and requested a new one. "[We] got the phase two, or 'car' names. These were so bad we didn't even save them," said Blackley. "Then we got the 'acronym' phase from the naming geniuses." Acronyms that can be found in the list below:

The naming battle peaked with the launch team eventually putting its foot down. "They wanted, for some unknowable reason, to call it '11-X' or 'Eleven-X'," said Blackley. "Finally, we told them no." Despite the internal objections, Blackley and his team went with Xbox, something we can all be grateful for considering the competition.

Don't confuse familiarity with it being better than those other titles. All stupid names lose their edge with time. Xbox is a terrible name, born late out of the "extreme marketing" fad of the 90's.

I mean, everyone acknowledged Wii was a dumb name when it was first unveiled, but you accept it and move on. I knew a girl who was actually named Star Power, which was an incredibly cruel joke by her parents, but you know what? Growing up, nobody even seemed to realize it was odd, because we were familiar with it.

Xbox remains a dumb name that came years too late to even be timely, but we accept it because with time we stop seeing the name, and instead what it represents: the product, the person, the _____.

synobal:They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

synobal:They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

Er, given the page image and the fact that the source says "rejected names for Microsoft's first console", I think that these are the rejected names for the original Xbox, not the Xbox One.

synobal:They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

Er, given the page image and the fact that the source says "rejected names for Microsoft's first console", I think that these are the rejected names for the original Xbox, not the Xbox One.

Sorry I got confused, I thought they were talking about the Xbox one, not the Xbox, as in the er first xbox. Gods that is confusingly stupid.

ScrabbitRabbit:Er, given the page image and the fact that the source says "rejected names for Microsoft's first console", I think that these are the rejected names for the original Xbox, not the Xbox One.

Im guessing this list is from a brain storming session. As in they write down every name that comes to mind. Most of them are worthless, but thats the whole point of brain storming....finding that diamond in the rough.

As for names, will every one though Wii was crappy - but doesnt seem to have made much difference to the machines selling power.

synobal:They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

Mydnyght:MAX was the only okay name on that acronym list to me, and even then I didn't really like what it stood for.

Technically they aren't all acronyms. A lot of those examples are initialisms.

An acronym is a series of letters that can be pronounced as a word.MAX, MIND, FACE, MOX etc...

An initialism is a series of letters that have to be spoken separately because they cannot be pronounced as a word.MVPC, RPM, VPS, R&R etc...

I would have thought that using an initialism as your console name would be a stupid move because the only way to actually refer to it would be by using a string of letters which have no meaning unless you can decipher them.

- TSO (Three, Six, Zero)

It amuses me that the original console was almost the 360 before it was even an Xbox.

I look at the list and think surely XON (Experience Optimised Network) would be better using the E instead of the xtreme version so we have EON then bung xbox in front of that and you get XBox EON. Hell I can then think of the kind of unveiling billboard of:

Jumwa:Don't confuse familiarity with it being better than those other titles. All stupid names lose their edge with time. Xbox is a terrible name, born late out of the "extreme marketing" fad of the 90's.

I mean, everyone acknowledged Wii was a dumb name when it was first unveiled, but you accept it and move on. I knew a girl who was actually named Star Power, which was an incredibly cruel joke by her parents, but you know what? Growing up, nobody even seemed to realize it was odd, because we were familiar with it.

Xbox remains a dumb name that came years too late to even be timely, but we accept it because with time we stop seeing the name, and instead what it represents: the product, the person, the _____.

Actually, the X doesn't mean extreme in this case. I recall it being said before the Xbox was released, that it was a shorter version of DirectX Box, because it uses DirectX (like PCs). But yes, it's still not very clever.

Personally, I like it when such things are named after mythic creatures, deities, or natural disasters.

I went down the list and imagined asking a friend if they wanted to play that console with me. None of these names felt organic to say. They fall out of the mouth like a nasty curry you immediate regret trying to eat.

Dunno where they got Xbox from, but it's a good thing they did.

CriticalMiss:Does anyone find it a bit spooky that one of their original suggestions was 'three, six, zero'?

There's also "all in one."

Though why they would call it Three, Six, Zero is beyond me. I'm still not entirely sure why they named its successor that.

synobal:They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

The list is potential names for the original Xbox, not the Xbox One.

Ya I got confused, the whole Xbox, VS Xbox One, Vs original xbox. It's kinda confusing when you're just reading it and not actually considering it.

synobal:They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

Well at least at first they seemed to give less than half a shit about any sort of gamer community which mad them their fortunes, so it doesn't surprise me that they tried to name it something different. But I swear, the ones on this list that aren't just awful were half-assed attempts to piggy-back on other popular brands' acronyms. Or just common acronyms in general. MTG. RPM. Really?

Edit: Oh wait, this is about the original Xbox. Man that whole XBone naming really throws me still. The second point stands though. They just seem slightly less awful since it's not a re-naming but rather a first-naming which is always hard.

Actually, the X doesn't mean extreme in this case. I recall it being said before the Xbox was released, that it was a shorter version of DirectX Box, because it uses DirectX (like PCs). But yes, it's still not very clever.

Personally, I like it when such things are named after mythic creatures, deities, or natural disasters.

Doom beat me to it -- DirectX Box was the actual codename they used in development, if I'm not mistaken.

Actually, the X doesn't mean extreme in this case. I recall it being said before the Xbox was released, that it was a shorter version of DirectX Box, because it uses DirectX (like PCs). But yes, it's still not very clever.

Personally, I like it when such things are named after mythic creatures, deities, or natural disasters.

Doom beat me to it -- DirectX Box was the actual codename they used in development, if I'm not mistaken.

Seems like my previous post went all invisible or something? :-P

Anyway, that wasn't the point of this post but at the time of the original Xbox we were at Dx8 or somesuch, 11 was Vista onwards only so there's no way it was in reference to that.